News tagged with olfactory receptors

The human nose can distinguish one trillion different scents—an extraordinary feat that requires 10 million specialized nerve cells, or neurons, in the nose, and a family of more than 400 dedicated genes. But precisely ...

Imagine trying to figure out how something works when that something takes place in a space smaller than a femtoliter: one quadrillionith of a liter. Now, two scientists with a nose for solving mysteries have used a combination ...

A review of more than 200 studies reveals that olfactory receptors—proteins that bind to odors that aid the sense of smell—perform a wide range of mostly unknown functions outside the nose. The function of extra-nasal ...

Researchers have identified key molecular mechanisms at work when people smell musks, a highly valued group of fixatives used in many perfumes and colognes. The discovery may have implications for a wide range of effects ...

Queen ants spend most of their time having babies. To reign supreme in a colony, they exude a special scent, or pheromone, on the waxy surface of their body that suppresses ovary development in their sisters, rendering the ...

Mammals possess several lines of defense against microbes. One of them is activated when receptors called Fprs, which are present on immune cells, bind to specific molecules that are linked to pathogens. Researchers at the ...

An authentic French baguette is one of those key staples that foodies hunt for. Now scientists have gained new insight into why a crisp crust is a must for this quintessential bread. They report their findings on how crumb ...

The aquatic environment is full of tantalizing chemicals that can guide a fish to mates or meals. Now, scientists in Japan have identified the olfactory receptor and brain circuitry that picks up the scent of adenosine triphosphate, ...